CHARLOTTE, N.C. — There’s really nothing special about the Heat’s winning formula, but it works.

The Heat feature a roster that has combined to make zero All-Star game appearances and eight players who have already combined to miss 143 games due to injury or illness this season, but they own the fourth-best record in the Eastern Conference.

“He maxes out his roster,” Hornets coach Steve Clifford said of Spoelstra. “I watch them play, and as much as anybody, they play every night. There’s purpose to what they do. And I think each guy has a role and they buy into their role.

“And they play their game. They’re on the attack. They’re on the attack. They are smart defensively. And they don’t give many possessions away. I guess simplistically, it’s, ‘Hard and smart,’ but in general, without being there every day, it’s maxing out what talent that they have.”

“His ability to lead everybody different, to talk to everybody in a different way, but still get his point across,” Heat forward James Johnson said of Spoelstra’s strengths as a coach. “He doesn’t sugarcoat nothing. But he knows the time and the opportunities when to talk to you. Some guys can take it, getting lectured in front of the group. Some guys break down when they get embarrassed or what not. And then there’s some of us that can just take corrective criticism for what it is and move forward. It’s really a learning experience with him. Every day you’re learning something, every day you’re looking at the game through his lens.”

With the Rockets featuring stars James Harden and Chris Paul, they should overpower the Heat. But Miami has already earned impressive road wins over star-powered teams like Celtics, Wizards, Raptors and Timberwolves this season.

How? Some impressive late-game play.

Miami has been one of the top teams in clutch situations — defined by the NBA as a game that has a margin of five points or fewer inside the final five minutes of the fourth quarter. Three of those four impressive road wins fall under this category.

The Heat entered Sunday with the league’s third-best record in clutch games at 20-9, behind only the Golden State Warriors (13-5) and Boston Celtics (20-8). Miami has recorded the league’s top offensive rating in clutch situations this season, scoring 124.2 points per 100 possessions.

“We have some grit to us,” Heat guard Wayne Ellington said. “We’re a tough team, man. We’ve been through a lot. We don’t make excuses. A lot of teams just say that, but we mean it. We actually live by it. We grind it out, man, that’s all I can really say. I can’t even pinpoint, it’s just a character of our team. We’re not going to let go.”

Miami doesn’t feature an elite scorer like Cleveland’s LeBron James or Golden State’s Kevin Durant. In fact, Heat leading scorer Goran Dragic is averaging just 17.3 points per game.

To put that number into perspective, Dragic would rank as the fourth-best scorer on the Warriors. But the Heat are built differently, they are built around a more balanced approach with eight Miami players averaging double-digit points this season.

The Heat are built around a starless philosophy that has earned them a 57-30 record over the past 87 games.

“There’s nothing to say that’s not already said,” Johnson said when asked about the Heat’s unique style. “They know who we are. They know what kind of culture we preach here.”